Psalm 37:1-18; 1 Kings 11:1-13; James 3:13-4:12; Mark 15:12-21
How could Solomon possibly have done these things? Is it possible to love a thousand other people enough to marry them? Solomon lacked true wisdom which he knew to be the fear of the Lord. He loved his wives more than he loved his Lord and in the end they were his downfall, he had forgotten his first love. In order to please these wives Solomon raised altars to their gods and allowed them footholds in the land and therefore among the people who were now confused about the Lord. If the king continued to prosper and he was offering worship to these other gods and marrying foreign wives, could it be that the Lord was not the only true God? Leadership matters to people and Solomon’s failures led to the nation’s failures.
The leaders of the nation have rejected God, they have rejected His Son and now the people are following their leaders initiative. Just a few days prior to this they had acclaimed Him with “Hosannas” and “Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord.” The hopes of the nation were riding on that donkey. They believed Him to be their Messiah based on all that they had seen and all they had heard. What happened? Did He do something in the interim or did He fail to do something? All that changed was the leaders had arrested Jesus and tried him in secret and now the same crowd believes Him to deserve death and we are not told what the crowd believes He has done. Even Pilate can’t sort it out and asks them what charge they find worthy of death. Their only answer, “Crucify Him!” That is the same as “We don’t know or care.” The leaders have failed God and the people by being concerned primarily about self.
Friendship with the world is enmity with God. In our first two lessons we see that truth writ large. Solomon wasted much of his life fulfilling his desires for women and possessions only to (we assume) write the book of Ecclesiastes which says that everything under the sun is nothing at all other than vanity. It is a sad tale of a man who has wasted his life and his gifts by deploying all his resources of time, talent and treasure to pursue the wrong things. His failure, as a leader, begat a nation chasing after the wind and losing everything eventually. The leaders of the people in Jesus’ time were concerned the Romans would take away their places of honor or that Jesus would woo the hearts of the people away from them and they crucified Him. So long as we seek more of the things of the world we are at war with God. Do we not find Him truly the most valuable thing?
Beyond my highest joy
I prize her heavenly ways,
Her sweet communion, solemn vows,
Her hymns of love and praise.
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